The EAC unions did not use the word "strike" in the announcement they issued to inform that from Thursday morning only security personnel will work in the production of electricity, without the well-known "plug-and-go" machines to stabilize the system and meet demand, BUT what they plan to do is worse than any strike measure they have taken so far.
We want to believe that more rational and mature thoughts will prevail in the ranks of the trade unions. But if they insist and implement the decision, those involved in the production, distribution and supply of electricity say that there is no way we can avoid power cuts on Thursday afternoon and evening and in the coming days, if the measures continue. In the announcement there is a day and time of the start of the restrictions on electricity production (Thursday, July 9, 7 a.m.) but there is no day of the end of the measures.
It is not possible to predict how the warnings of the trade unionists will work in practice, nor how many, who and when will be affected on Thursday or even in the coming days. However, when the unions say from 7 in the morning they will not add or remove generators to the system, we can assume that they will start in the morning with a production that is usually 600-650 megawatts and will be left with these machines... until the Second Coming?
Yes, but if that's what they have in mind, then it means that when around 8, 9 or 10 in the morning on Thursday the photovoltaics (commercial and residential) will already be at their peak and the EAC will normally have to withdraw some of its units to utilize solar energy, the unions will continue with a production of about 650 megawatts, cutting off part of the production of photovoltaics? And then, in the afternoon, without photovoltaics, when consumers will need 800-900 megawatts, will the EAC stay at 650 in the morning? Is it possible for them to want to operate in this antisocial way? To punish whom?
If the unions do not have second thoughts and the concerns about the certain exclusion of thousands of consumers from the network, even on a rotational basis, in the high temperatures of July, are confirmed, then the first side effect at the political level will be the complete rupture of the relations of the Electricity Authority's trade unions with society.
They do not ask for something that can be negotiated, even under conditions of blackmail, so that they can take it and go to work. They raise issues that have existed as problems for years, without a total solution being given. Neither from previous Governments, nor from the current one. And a solution cannot be given today or tomorrow, not even in a few months.
And there is also the other thing: The trade unions raise in the public debate real problems and real mistakes of the State. They must also say their suggestions to the Government, CERA, the Parliament, the Administrator. Without suggestions, implementable on the basis of defined timetables and compatible with European legislation, a serious and effective dialogue cannot take place.
Let's hope that the Government will not let things defuse through the implementation of the measures with which the workers are threatened and the anger that will be caused to consumers. If the Government neglects or deliberately enacts, it will be complicit in the suffering of households and businesses. It will not be easy for her to stick the guilds on the wall. She will find herself on the wall.
It was heard yesterday that there is a prospect of a meeting of the trade unions with the Minister of Energy, who expressed a willingness to meet with the trade unionists. They should have already met. Nothing changes today, neither for the adequacy of electricity, nor for the price of electricity, but a lot could change in the medium term, if there is a serious dialogue and there is cooperation between everyone.
